6 Ways to Stay on Top of Your Social Media Feed in 2018

Facebook Changes Prompt New Marketing Strategies

Facebook has started the year with a bang for marketers, by announcing that organic post reach for pages is dead.

Brands and companies that engage with clients through their Facebook pages will now need to re-evaluate how they connect with people on the platform.

While there are still small Facebook news feed hacks that will alleviate a portion of the loss, more significant changes to our marketing strategies are necessary in order to truly succeed at the same level or higher.

We have pulled together the 6 top strategies to help you stay afloat this year in the ever-changing sea of Facebook Marketing.

1. Brand Building

Building rapport and partiality towards a brand is like electromagnetism. It is an unstoppable, invisible force within marketing that is as necessary as gravity. Electromagnetic interactions inside computer monitors are responsible for generating light, enabling you to read the screen. In the same way, brand affinity is what brings your business to light, so that customers can see and interact with it. Building your brand affinity compels prospective consumers to remember your messages, share positively with others, and pay more premium prices for your products or services.

Before making decisions on which channels to cut and which to invest in more this year, ask yourself:

Is the essence of your brand portrayed in an inspirational or memorable way?

Have the needs of your target market been truly and surely understood?

Does the service or product you provide offer unique and coercive value, compared to similar brands in the market?

These three things together, form the foundation of your brand. It is essential to first focus and reflect on these key questions, otherwise you will struggle to produce what you intended to or what your customers are really looking for. A brand built on a sturdy rock will withstand the storms of time.

2. Getting the Most out of Facebook Advertisements

Paid Ads have now become the single most reliable way for companies to interact with and reach out to targeted groups of people within Facebook.

The cost of advertising has increased drastically in recent years, and is predicted to continue to rise steadily in the future. Thankfully for the majority of businesses it is not essential to draw in mass amounts of likes/views to their websites or Facebook pages, so you are able to be very particular with your ad targeting. If your ads are focussed on these three areas, you are more likely to get the most for your money:

Customised Audiences: Similar to how email marketing works, you are able to upload phone numbers and email addresses of your current clients and they will see your ads in their news feed.

Remarketing: Those that have recently visited your site are more likely to purchase your products in the near future.

3. Make Use of Groups

Facebook Groups are hidden gold when it comes to engagement loopholes. From now on Facebook’s news feed will prioritize posts according to the amount of meaningful discussion they produce. This type of update bodes particularly well for groups, and should be taken advantage of wherever possible.

Provocative and active group discussions are featured in people’s ‘notifications’ tab, which in turn stimulates a huge amount of ‘free’ views on your post.

Facebook groups are unlikely to change significantly or be removed anytime in the foreseeable future. This makes them a safe and effective loophole around Facebook’s latest news feed re-structuring.

4. Facebook Messenger

Messenger provides a brilliant opportunity to send marketing messages to potential customers directly, and does not need to show up on people’s news feed at all. People will never scroll through their entire news feed, nor will most check all of their notifications all the time. However, almost everyone will regularly check their private messages, and will click on an alert generally as soon as they see it popping up to say they have a new message.

Followers of your page can opt in to receive messages and updates from your page direct to their messenger inbox. You can then use a chatbot to inform everyone who has subscribed of updates and news, and also respond to general questions. You can also create regular, engaging posts on your page to encourage people to subscribe to updates.

5. The Untapped Oil of Instagram

The concept of having a business page on Instagram is still relatively new, in fact it has only really been noticeable over the last year or so. Whilst it is not a commonly used strategy, it can definitely be used to your advantage, boosting your reach and bringing new interest and spark to your brand. Most businesses have had a Facebook page for a long time, but Instagram is a newer engaging way to interact with people and bring more attention to your brand.

Instagram is most effective for businesses that can incorporate a visual aspect. Things such as entertainment, travel, socialising, food and fitness. But with a bit of creativity most companies should be able to find ways to interact through Instagram. You could also use it to show how and where your products can be used, new labelling, specials, new products, new destinations your product is now available, the happy faces of your clients, staff achievements or new staff members, or anything else you can conceive of which could be turned into an image or photo, the possibilities are limitless. Best of all, Instagram is a ‘free’ way to engage more with the community and increase your popularity and brand affinity.

6. Facebook is not the Only Fish in the Sea

Try alternative publishing channels too. Facebook organic reach may be dead, but that’s not the case for all of the other networks, which are still worth investing some time in. You can still use organic marketing strategies on: